the chicago reader revealed some more details about upcoming releases in an article yesterday. a new solo album, tentatively titled “let me go”, should be released first. recorded last february in indiana, it returns to the sparse piano/guitar arrangements of “pyramid electric co.”. the new magnolia electric co. lp “nashville moon” is also complete, save for mixing. it was recorded last july with steve albini at electrical audio. the article also mentioned that jason will return to virginia to finish the collaboration with david lowery in february.

according to the mec myspace page, jason molina will be curating monday night shows at schuba’s (in chicago) this coming february. he’ll play a solo set and also pick other bands and songwriters to fill out the slots!

pitchfork had a news update today about the art show jason molina will be taking part in at brooklyn’s fire proof press (NOTE: he will no longer be performing). buried at the bottom was news about upcoming collaborations indicating that he had finished work on a full length with david lowery of camper van beethoven and cracker and he’s hoping to put together a colloborative project with chicago musicians (his wishlist includes sally timms of the mekons, jeff tweedy of wilco, and danny black of the blacks).

many might know that magnolia electric co. has had a myspace page for a month or two now… but as of today there are three tracks from the new ep available to stream there, for those who haven’t already hopped on that (ps - it’s in your local record store as of today)…

the impending hurricane rita has led to the cancellation of all remaining texas dates (that’d be mcallen and houston)… the new orleans show on sunday was cancelled awhile back due to hurricane katrina…

and now you don’t need to put pants on to procure your copy of the upcoming magnolia electric co. ep. you can now purchase the “hard to love a man” ep directly from secretly canadian.

well whadayaknow! it’d seem that the upcoming ep (due out october 11th) is already in the hands of the band and can be procured from them at any of the shows over the next month or so… as a reminder, it features three non-album tracks recorded in april and a cover of warren zevon’s “werewolves of london” recorded in fall 2003.

the summer release date might have been a bit ambitious, but details are now out for the “hard to love a man” ep… secretly canadian has it scheduled for an october 11th release (cd only, no 10″ was mentioned)… four original tracks (most of them previewed over the past three months of touring) and their cover of warren zevon’s “werewolves of london” that you might remember from the tour two years ago…

before heading out on tour earlier this month, magnolia electric co. stopped by echo park studios in bloomington to record a new ep. right now it looks like it’ll be released by secretly canadian on cd and 10″ in july, just in time for them to head out on the road for more north american dates…

the huge tour in support of “what comes after the blues” begins tonight and if the three months worth of tour dates aren’t enough for you, you’re in luck. magnolia electric co. will return to the road in early august, after a short respite from their european tour (and a one-off show in chicago in july to play the intonation festival on the 16th or 17th). a rather extensive canadian tour followed by u.s. dates will keep them on the road until october.

after the successful reissue campaign for the first three (secretly canadian released) songs: ohia full lengths in fall ‘04, summer ‘05 will bring us the following three full-lengths. july 5th brings the vinyl re-releases of “ghost tropic”, “didn’t it rain” and “magnolia electric co.” no official word on whether the m.e.c. lp will contain the bonus demos cd in this new pressing, but i’m guessing no.

secretly canadian now has what comes after the blues available for pre-order… both the cd and lp are shipping now, so you can have yours in-hand a month before it hits stores…

initial dates for the european tour this summer have been announced and they include visits to the uk, sweden, norway and all sorts of mainland europe locales… check the tour dates section. if you don’t see your town mentioned yet don’t worry, there are more dates to come!

the title pretty much says it all- the new magnolia electric co. studio album will be called “what comes after the blues” and be released on april 5th, 2005 on both cd and lp by secretly canadian. many of the tracks have been played on tour over the past two years but only two appear on the just-released “trials and errors” live album (which is almost out of print, btw!)

jason molina will be part of a bill at the knitting factory in nyc this valentine’s day celebrating the release of “isn’t it romantic” (the poetry book that included a compilation featuring a magnolia electric co. track). also on the bill music-wise are mighty flashlight, mark mulcahy, megan reilly and lo fine. there will also be readings from a number of poets featured in the book.

the touring schedule for the first four months of 2005 is firming up- european dates are still to come. there will be two record release shows, the first for the “trials and errors” live album on january 15th in bloomington and the second for the new studio album on april 9th in chicago. see the tour dates page for more details…

as promised a couple weeks ago, secretly canadian is now selling both the cd and 2xlp version of the new live magnolia electric co. album “trials and errors”, recorded a year and a half ago in belgium.

“trials and errors”, the live magnolia electric co. release will be widely available on both cd and 2xlp this winter through secretly canadian. i don’t believe the cd will be included with the lp as rumored. don’t pay lots of money for this on ebay- it will be readily available if you just wait a month or two…

following up on news from last spring, “isn’t it romantic: 100 love poems by young american poets” is now available from verse press. this poetry anthology include a compilation with the new magnolia electric co. song “down the wrong road both ways”. other musicians appearing on the cd include richard buckner, vic chesnutt, nanang tatang (ida), david berman (silver jews), and many more. (ps. it turns out that amazon has it for much cheaper)

the first of the tour dates for the december chilly states tour are now available on the tour dates page… i’ll be updating as i get more details and/or dates.